Tempest of Vengeance Read online

  But Lash didn’t seem to mind that I hadn’t said those three words to him. As I eased off Devlin, he pulled me to him, and hugged me hard. “I’ve wanted to do that with you again,” he hissed tenderly, sucking gently on my neck. “I remembered how much you liked it, and I’ve only ever done it with other weres before you—”

  “Shh,” Devlin said in a very soft tone. “I’m sure Sar doesn’t want to think about you and other women when we’re in bed, just as you don’t want to think about her and—”

  “Don’t say his name,” Lash hissed in a low tone, his arms tightening around me. “She’s done with him.”

  I kissed him, and he kissed me back, and then he drew back from me, as if considering something, his dark eyes a little hesitant. “Sorry, if I offended you. Just lie here with us, Sar. We’ll sleep.”

  I snuggled between them, and for the first time in weeks, I needed no drugs to sleep.

  * * * *

  That next morning, as we had breakfast, Lash told me that he would be gone for the day. I knew by the way he said the words that a “demolition” was in order. In short, someone was going to die.

  “Please be careful,” I said nervously, hugging him.

  “This is a distance job. But I always wear a vest anyway, if not my armor. I have that same Kevlar that looks like leather that Devlin has, besides the black armor that you have a set of yourself. Both will stop most anything, save that blue fire. Nothing can stop that, at least, not yet, though some companies are trying new methods—”

  I hugged him tightly, cutting off his words. Lash hugged me back. “I’ll be back tonight. Titus will teleport me, when it’s done. Rip will be here with you and Dev and V, so you’ll be safe.”

  I moved to kiss him, but he held me at arm’s length. “What?”

  “I’m afraid of you kissing me for good luck, like last time,” Lash hissed quietly, and I could see he was only half joking. “I don’t want to end up in jail again.”

  “Then I’ll kiss you when you get home,” I said, hugging his body to me, burying my face in his throat. “And if you ever get arrested again, I’m teleporting you out of prison, I’m not leaving you there, not ever again, no matter what anyone says.”

  “Ah, you’re sweet to say you’d rescue me,” Lash sighed, nuzzling me. “My Sweetness.”

  He embraced me once more briefly, then he was gone, the door closing softly behind him. Shaking off my worry for him, I got moving with my own stressful itinerary for the day.

  First, I called Rosalyn, the therapist. I expected to leave a message, but got her secretary instead. When a last minute cancellation for today was offered an hour from then, I took it, surprised as today was Sunday. Grabbing my novel, I teleported to Danial’s, where I ended up in the woods instead of inside the house.

  Fucking Theo. Grimacing, I walked to the door, and knocked. A second later, Jenny opened the door.

  “Hi,” I said, mustering a smile. “I need to speak to Elle. I got her an appointment in one hour—”

  “Please come in,” she said quickly, stepping aside. “Theo told me.”

  I bit my lip. It’s normal he would tell her. Now say something!

  “He was very upset,” she added quietly. “But T doesn’t know, or anyone else, other than that someone tried to kidnap her and she got traumatized as a result.” She paused. “Elle’s in the shower, and has been for the past hour. But if you wait here, I’ll tell her that you’re here.”

  Fuck that. “I’ll go right in, thanks,” I said bluntly, and gently pushed past her. I strode to Elle’s room and knocked on the door, shooting a sad glance quickly at Devon’s now empty room. Elle opened it, fully dressed. She hugged me, then gestured for me to come in.

  “I have an appointment for you in a half hour or so,” I said, closing the door behind us. “A woman named Rosalyn. She’s a therapist. But we need to leave now, because I can’t teleport you the first time. Luckily she’s not far from Stephen’s office.”

  I expected her to cry out in protest, to say she didn’t want to go, but she just nodded, and said, “I’m ready.”

  We walked out to the great room together, where Jenny was waiting for us apprehensively. I said good-bye to Jenny as politely as I could, trying my best to be nice to her. She’s trying, and I should try, too. It’s not her fault Theo is an ass. Then I saw her ring finger, saw the huge diamond sparkling on it, and thought only about making it to the door.

  She shut the door behind Elle and me, and we walked to the garage, where Elle keyed in the password. It had also been changed. I got into one of the Expeditions, and grabbed the keys from underneath the visor. I put the key in the ignition but abruptly stopped before I started it. When were these last checked for explosives, or other magical traps? This morning? Or a month ago?

  “What?” Elle said, looking worried. “Mom?”

  Sigh. I called Theo, and it went to voice mail. I tried T next, and got the same thing. Shit, I don’t have time for this. I called Titus, and he was there in the next second outside the truck, before the phone rang twice. I looked at him in shock, my phone still to my ear.

  “Your tracking spell is on you,” he said with a smile. “And caller ID. What’s up?”

  “Thanks,” I said quickly. “Can you check the SUV, to see if it’s safe? We need to get to an appointment at noon. It’s at a witch therapist’s office, her name is Rosalyn—”

  “Ros,” Titus said, nodding. “Come out of the truck, and I’ll teleport you both there. I know where her office is. You won’t have to waste time driving.”

  We got out, Titus held our hands, and immediately, we were there. “I’ve got to get back to Lash, to watch his back,” Titus said, hugging me goodbye. “Then I’ll be with T later on this afternoon. Call if there’s a problem, and I’ll be here directly.”

  I nodded, and he disappeared.

  “He seems nice,” Elle said thoughtfully. “Why does Dad...did Dad not like demons? Terian is a good guy, too. He’s marrying Sundown, and she loves him. I could understand him not liking them after what happened to him, but he didn’t like them before that...” she trailed off.

  “I’m not sure,” I said, thinking on it as we walked inside the office building. “But your father has never liked them, for some reason, and I think Theo got some of his prejudice from him. Probably something in his past, Honey.”

  “Don’t ever call me ‘Honey’,” Elle growled, her blue eyes shifting to yellow.

  I felt terrible, guessing why at once. “I’m sorry, Elle,” I said, deliberately using her name. “Your father had a lot of bad memories. He never talked about most of them.”

  “Maybe he should come to therapy, too,” Elle said darkly. “If he ever wakes up.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. Elle sat down in the waiting area, and I gave the secretary Elle’s name, and address. She asked who I wanted billed, and gave her my name, and then began to give her Hayden’s address. She stopped me when she heard the name.

  “I know that address. Ros got a call from Stephen this morning. Please have a seat, and I’ll call Elle, when it’s time. The appointment will be at least an hour, but if Elle wants to go on, it will be longer, as long as she wants to talk. Rosalyn has all her first appointments that way.”

  I nodded, and sat down. Fifteen minutes later, they called in Elle.

  Two and a half hours later, she came out. I’d gone to the bathroom twice, and finished my book, and been dozing for the last forty-five minutes. But I wasn’t complaining. I was grateful, that she was here getting help. I would have been happy to sit here and be uncomfortable for as many hours as she wanted to talk, and then to come back tomorrow, too.

  “She wants to talk to you for a minute,” Elle said, her voice emotional as she flopped down in a chair next to me.

  I got up and went in. Rosalyn stood up when I entered, revealing she was very short. “I’m half troll, half goblin,” she said in explanation, then smiled.

  I didn’t know what to say. I sm
iled and nodded in return, figuring that was polite.

  “I know, being human, you probably heard goblins and trolls are ugly,” she chortled.

  “Yes,” I said honestly. “But you aren’t.”

  That was an understatement. She was beautiful, more so than I, if truth be told.

  “Next you’ll think this is some kind of magic,” she said, looking at me a little sadly. “Humans always say that next, but it’s not. This is the real me.”

  “Good,” I said with a shrug. “Being pretty is a lot easier in this world than being ugly.”

  Roz looked a little taken aback, but nodded. “That’s sad, but true. But it says something about you, that you said it so casually.” She wrote something down on her paper.

  I felt very self-conscious. This had been some kind of test. Was my reply good or bad? “If you had used glamour, I wouldn’t think it bad, either,” I added quickly. “It’s like make-up, or hair coloring, or plastic surgery. Why not use it, if it makes you feel better about yourself?”

  Roz looked at me with surprise, and then wrote more down on her pad. A lot more. Shit, maybe I’m making a bigger hole for myself.

  “Do you know why I wanted to talk to you?”

  I wanted badly to echo Lash’s words and tell her I hadn’t a fucking clue, but stifled the urge to joke just to break the overwhelming tension I was feeling. This was serious, and I did have a clue, having had a fair amount of therapy in my life. “Because you think she has issues with me to address, or because you want my help with some background on her, to clarify something in her past?” I offered. “Or both?”

  She nodded. “Both.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Elle has a lot of issues,” she said frankly. “I’m very worried about her. She needed therapy without the additional trauma of her rape.”

  I nodded. That wasn’t a surprise. Most everyone I knew needed therapy, except maybe V. Once she fully understood exactly who her father was, she’d need therapy just for that.

  “She said her father’s Theopolis,” Roz said, reading. “But her Dad is Danial, and he’s in a coma?”

  I explained as fast as I could Elle’s background, how Danial had raised her and she’d grown fast, with Theo being gone for her younger years. How she’d lost her younger brother recently, but had both an older brother, and a younger sister. I stopped abruptly mid-explanation, and looked at her. “I need you to confirm you’re powerful enough to keep these secrets,” I said bluntly. “Elle’s rape is a direct result of my previous therapist’s weakness.”

  “I am,” Roz assured me. “You know of Titus, I believe? He and his...um, wife, Alerian, they came to me for counseling a century or so ago, and more recently again, too.”

  Wow, she was old. “Titus said he knew you.”

  “I’m older than he is. I do this work because I had a bad experience, in my early years, and I want to help women and couples to work past some of their problems, so they can be happy. I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor.”

  “I’m glad to know you help couples.”

  Roz nodded. “I know of Devlin Dalcon, and what he’s done in his time as Ruler,” she said. Dark anger passed over her face, before it abruptly cleared. “I have also heard of Theopolis O’Connor, and Danial Racklan, and certainly of the infamous Lash.”

  “I’m not sure what Elle has told you about me,” I stated quickly. “But—”

  “I smell snake scent on you, dear,” Roz interrupted gently. “I know enough from Elle to know it’s his. I know he works for Devlin, and rumor is he’s young again. He must have given Titus half his fortune for that potion he took that saved him. But what’s five hundred thousand, or even a million, or ten million to be young again? I’ve done it enough times, myself.”

  I had so many questions I didn’t know what to ask first. Lash was that rich? But then he was old, and he made a lot of money killing people. Being rich naturally followed. But millions? And that’s how much it would cost to save him magically, if he were dying? How rich was Devlin that he could afford that? What was I Oathing into? Focus on what’s important. “The same potion can be used more than once, for a being? And there is more than the one?”

  Roz nodded. “They only last so long, and there are unpleasant side effects, depending on what is used. My troll nature makes me resistant to those, dear. But yes, there are potions with side effects that aren’t too bad, though they are expensive in the extreme. But I doubt that is a problem for Lash, especially with Dalcon for a friend. Have Titus call me, when it’s time. I can point him to the right texts, so he can find a better potion for Lash to use next time around.”

  “Why would you help him?” I said suspiciously with narrowed eyes. “Or Devlin?”

  “I’ve seen a lot of women, and men in my years, and it’s easy to see that you care about him. I’ve heard you may live a long life. I would guess you’d want him with you as long as possible. Part of Elle getting better is seeing her mother in a good relationship with a man who doesn’t abuse her.”

  That had to be a dig at Devlin. Sigh. What could I say that didn’t sound defensive?

  “Lash has done much evil in his life, but he has never harmed a woman to my knowledge, at least not one who didn’t attack him first. I’ve heard what he did for Elle, and how he saved you from a similar situation—”

  “He did.”

  “But are you happy with him? Do you love him, Sarelle? You began a physical relationship with him when you were married, committed to another man, and often, those matches don’t result in healthy relationships. Or ones that last, as evidenced by what happened with Danial, Theo, and you...”

  She trailed off, seeing my face, and how upset I was.

  “I am going to him as a snake,” I said in a breaking voice, my walls falling down in pieces, and my tears following almost immediately. “I love him, I have for months, but I was married, and I tried to do the right thing!”

  “There, there,” she said, handing me a tissue. “That’s all you can do, to try your best.”

  “But I still feel guilty, for what I did! He’s a killer, and he’s hurt a lot of people.”

  “You did wrong, having an affair with him like you did,” she said flatly. “But you know that, and you did your best to make it right. Let it go, and get on with your life. Lash’s misdeeds are his own, not yours. Your daughter needs you, and so will your son, with their father gone.”

  I didn’t think that was all completely true, but I swallowed it, hook, line and sinker, because it made me feel so much better, to let go of my guilt.

  “And so will your other daughter, with the kind of father she has in Dalcon. He has no respect for women, none at all. He thinks of them as objects to pleasure himself with.”

  “I know,” I whispered. “That’s been hard to deal with. But I’m working on it, and having Venus has changed him. Seeing what happened to Elle has also affected him.”

  “Some men never change,” Roz said in a low voice. “Don’t think that he has, Sarelle.”

  “Should I make Elle come and live with me?” I asked, changing the subject. “Would that be best? I could watch her a lot easier.”

  “Not for now,” Roz said. “She needs to be where she feels at home, and that is Danial’s house. But visit her often, and come with her, to these appointments.”

  “I will.”

  “And if you need counseling yourself, call for an appointment,” she said, getting to her feet. “I always have room in my schedule for a woman who needs me.”

  On impulse, I gave her a hug quickly, and she cackled a little, and hugged me back. I left, wondering if she was going to write anything else down on her pad about that.

  Elle was waiting for me, and we went to a late lunch at the local Pizza Hut. Even though she didn’t talk much, I could see she was a little bit more her old self. Time would do the rest. Time, and love.

  * * * *

  That week passed quickly.

  I had done some online Christmas s
hopping, but not much. I got busy on Monday, and ordered the rest of the gifts. Devlin had handed me a Mastercard much as Danial had, years ago, but his was not black—it was pure white, almost silver. I used that for most of the presents, though I used my own card for a few select purchases. Most of the gifts were gift baskets: bath stuff for Elle, a honeymoon food basket for Terian and Sundown, a wine basket for T, a breakfast-in-bed basket for Titus and Alerian, and a coffee basket for my parents. I also got Elle some art supplies, and T a few books. Venus, I got probably more than I should, but she was growing so fast, I worried she would be an adult by next Christmas. So I got her about five more board games, some movies on DVD, some CDs of children’s music, some sneakers, and a large stuffed dragon so big she could ride it. I had Keith hide the boxes in one of the guest rooms, and snuck in there every day to wrap things as they came in, glad I’d had the foresight to order a roll of wrapping paper, gift tags, and bows with the presents.

  It felt weird not getting Theo anything, but I told myself he had someone else to get him things. He didn’t need anything from me. And what would I get him? A gift basket for breakfast-in-bed for two? Bleah.

  I was glad too that Solutions, Inc. was shut down this week and next. I needed the time to finish two handmade presents I was making for Elle, and I was behind on both.

  I was saved the embarrassment of asking for my Christmas tree and decorations, which had been stored at Danial’s, when T showed up with it, the boxes of ornaments, and Elle on that Wednesday. That afternoon, three of us decorated the tree. Last, Elle and I carefully put on the spiders she, Danial, and I had made, and then I made us some eggnog. We sat near the tree afterwards, sipping it, and talking of nothing serious as we watched the lights blink on and off.

  Lash came into the living room near dusk, staring first at the tree, and then at us. It was obvious he was uneasy, likely due to the strong scent of blood that followed him from another job he’d done earlier that morning, though there was none visible.

  I went to Lash and hugged him. “I’m very glad you’re home safe,” I said with relief, self-conscious of T and Elle watching us. “Go take a shower, then join us if you want to. I’ll make you some eggnog if you like, when you come down.”